Your Guide to student life

Alex Carusillo

I’ve decided that I am sick of it. When I told my friends that I went to, and enjoyed, the IHEARTCOMIX (The LA label growing synonymous with electronic/dance/pop punk music for “hipsters”) Showcase at South By Southwest I had to endure unrepentant assaults on my character. However, for every “move to Brooklyn” and “does Pitchfork have dance instruction videos?” I got, no one ever mentioned the important thing: it’s okay for music to be fun and there is nothing wrong with dancing.

The band names, however, could be argued as stupid

Setting aside the insane assumption that a “hipster” is a thing, or more specifically one that can be defined by a series of arbitrary characteristics (like a passion for awesome sunglasses,) I finally feel it necessary to note that these poor kids cannot win. For years the metaphor was that hipsters didn’t dance; that they stared at the ground while a band droned on stage. Eventually the Diplos and the A-Traks, and the MSTRKRFTS appeared and with the availability of music that actually encouraged this kind of prosocial behavior (because no one can shake it at a Merzbow show) these kids started to dance. But apparently that is also not acceptable as labels like IHEARTCOMIX are blasted for encouraging physical movement like they’re in Elmore City. There is honestly no way for these kids to appease the general blog commentariat, but they keep dancing.

So, hell yeah hipsters. I guess at some point we all forgot that it’s not about reactions on Stereogum and Brooklyn Vegan. And it’s not about getting into everyoneisfamous photos. It’s not about the overwhelming libido of Totally Michael or the upfront fame whoring of Ninjasonik. It’s about the fact that one can find enjoyment in a beat. Maybe irony, scenes, and reasons don’t; maybe dancing is just fun.

Photo by Alex Carusillo

So “hipsters,” I’ve got you on this. I’ve got you because Team Robespierre sounded crazy hot even from the line outside the venue. Because The Death Set physically destroyed the stage while onetime passive kids screamed. Because neon colors actually are cool. And because the crowd was having fun not to impress anyone but because the concept still exists.

The only time I have ever enjoyed Brian Setzer was in a bar in Tokyo. At the time the only word I knew in Japanese was the one for “good morning” and I used it regardless of the time of day. After inadvertently eating what may or may not have been the spinal cord of a pig I was desperate to consume anything that would remove the taste from my mouth and the bar next door was still open. Before I even had the chance to sit down the following conversation took place:

Bartender: Konbanwa. (Good evening.)Alex: Ohayo gozaimasu!!!!! (Good morning!!!!)B: You are an American?A: Yes. Yes absolutely.B: (Noticing my hair) Are you in a band? (Air guitar)A: No.B: Do you like American rock music?A: Yeah.

As if this was the signal the man had been waiting for his entire life he sprinted across the bar and grabbed a jewel case holding The Brian Setzer Orchestra’s “Jump, Jive an’ Wail – The Very Best of the Brian Setzer Orchestra” and as he was throwing it in the CD player asked, almost as an afterthought, “You like Brian Setzer?”

It was Brian Setzer in my ears or spine in my mouth.

For the next thirty minutes the bartender didn’t say much; he just kind of danced behind the bar while occasionally giving me an inquisitive thumbs up and throwing the sign of the horns at my nodded affirmations.

Photo by José Ginarte

This is not “HOW THEM WACKY JAPANESE LOVE THAT AMERICAN ROCK EVER SO MUCH!” and it is not some rote piece about the dissolution of boundaries and “there only being one language of rock!” It is simply that nothing in the world melts me like American rock from Japanese mouths. Something about it always takes me back to the empty bar and the horrible, horrible swing music. The way it sounded fun for a moment, the way the bartender believed what was being said without actually knowing what it was supposed to mean.

So when Ani and I stumbled across a poster that proclaimed “GEEKS ROCK YOU!!” In Japanese and English I was thrilled, but when directly below“Hi there. What’s up? We are GEEKS from Japan. Let’s introduce ourself. Please read till the last. GEEKS are the only very cool bands in the world. In February, 2008, the geeks were rebearded newly. It is worlds best group of 4 men. Let’s introduce our member. The guitar sound that seems to be a machine gun, Base sounds such as the heavy tank, Synthesizer such as the ray gun, A drum such as the great disaster, And a voice to carry through heart. When we had a gig, all the spectators was swooned. Because of us, a lot of people quitted a school and work and came to start a band in Japan. You’ll regret that you overlook it! Our force does not stop!”
appeared I grew indifferent. I’ve seen Weird Al and his zany brand of rock and roll and I have no interest in more of it.

But we went anyway, forgoing the chance to see the bands will show up six months from now, already two years late, in Spin and The Fader as the “hottest new indie bands.”Giving up the “Oh yeah, I saw Abe Vigoda at South By 09” and the “Wavves? They’re still a band? Man, I was bored of them after their showcase at SXSW.” We gave it up because there was a Japanese band playing American rock at an Irish pub. We gave it up because we happened to be across the street from the venue. We gave it up because Brian Setzer apparently sounds good in all languages.

They could have passed for any ’90s pop punk band on stage. Orange, blue, and red hair on every head. Keyboardist Kaol popped out from behind his instrument to take pictures of the small crowd inside, more curious than excited. Lead singer Endo stood at the large window facing the street and screamed at passersby, encouraging them to watch his band in a language they didn’t understand. The tittering excitement of all those Warped Tour shows in local skateparks. The band gleefully bounced around as if by standing on this stage they had completed their dream. And maybe they had. The Geeks are unsigned and have never been to America, the place where “the music [they] loved was born,” and yet during one of the largest festivals of the year they held a coveted 11 p.m. set.

And then it started with a bellowing, “We are the Geeks. Motherfucker!” rolling out of Endo’s mouth. And the crowd cheered because, sometimes, that’s what rock and roll is all about. The four piece launched into a set of as much Shonen Knife as Sex Pistols as Screeching Weasel. Through a translator Mitsu told us that their band found influence in both Japanese and American music and that “it started with the Sex Pistols but then [they] fell in love with Japanese punk.” Paying tribute to both the American and Japanese roots of their sound the band played 40 minutes of guitar solos, group harmonies, and chanting choruses to a nearly full bar and a crowd steadily increasing outside of it spurred on by the band’s constant trips to the window to wave.

Photo by José Ginarte

Later on Endo smirked, aware of the word’s meaning and implication but unable or unwilling to do anything with this knowledge. He stared at the crowd, finger tentatively pointed, “You? You are motherfucker?” The crowd giggled, “No”. He turned his finger to his own body wildly gazing at it as if it was sentient, “Motherfucker?” Unhappy with this solution he began to throw his hands into the air at the word he feigned ignorance of. Louder and louder he yelled, his band chanting offbeat alongside him in a moment of unbridled glee. “Motherfucker.”

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Doseone is one of the founders of anticon. Records, a label that specializes in music that falls somewhere between hyper confessional poetry and avant hip-hop. Over the past ten years he has produced paintings, spoken word albums, board games, electronic music, and rap under a variety of names. At South By Southwest he played a number of shows with his more traditional rap group Themselves with Jeffrey “Jel” Logan.

DISCLAIMER: There are very few things I fawn over. I mean weak-at-the-knees-cell-phone-picture-buy-everything-for-sale-will-you-sign-this-refresh-the-homepage fawn. I get psyched on album leaks and deep-dish pizza from Chicago. On new operating systems and Japanese arcades. Hilarious tattoos and good fonts. But the only thing that causes me to regress to starstruck teenager at an American Idol show is anticon. Records emcee Doseone (Adam Drucker in the album booklets). I recognize that this makes me uniquely unqualified to write anything concerning him that does not appear in my AIM profile alongside my favorite lyrics and a shout out to my BFF. You should too.
The first time I saw Doseone his band Subtle was opening for TV On The Radio. Within fifteen minutes of the show’s beginning the rapper, donning a self-painted black and white vest, was prancing around a similarly striped bust screaming, “BLOOD! BLOOD!” and throwing plastic forks into the audience. Since then I’ve seen him sing to skulls, launch into ten minute tangents about deceased futurist Buckminster Fuller (responsibly for that awful, awful dome/ATT ad at Disney’s Epcot Center) being angry about not being on the guest list, and tell horribly off-color jokes about the Jonas Brothers’ mother. This weekend he spent the greater part of five minutes blindly throwing confetti filled eggs into the crowd while chanting, “have an egg” at no one in particular. Subtle was always a show full of moments that exploded.
But every circus trick had a point and every text-your-friends thing done on stage was tempered by the fact that the point of Subtle, and most of the Doseone canon, was that “there is no God, you will die, life is depressing.” The antics were not meant to be simple comic relief, though he acknowledged that that was a factor as he didn’t want to be seen as “taking [myself] too seriously”, but rather a part of the story he wanted to tell (a story which spawned a limited edition dictionary/poetry book and an interactive flash site.)
But with the story still incomplete Doseone has returned to his work with Themselves (as “traditional” of a rap group as one can get when the music is nonlinear ruminations on… something I still haven’t totally figured out.) After their show at The Beauty Bar, Ani and I spoke with Doseone about this change in medium.

Photo by Alex Carusillo

GW Hatchet: With so much built around and into the Subtle mythology why have you returned to Themselves?Doseone: We put everything we had into Subtle. Our hearts, Dax [Pierson’s] body (the multi-instrumentalist of Subtle who was paralyzed in a car accident while on tour) – but the world was indifferent to the music of death in an uncertain genre. And it’s like fuck your indifference, your ambivilence. But, you know, six people had their lives on the line for this and we, we just couldn’t. So Jel and I decided to just be what we are [rappers].GWH: Does that mean Subtle is done?D: The world didn’t want it. We made no mistake in pursuing music that had never been made before but people downloaded it or didn’t care.GWH: Subtle was always more metaphorical than your other projects. Will this style of lyricism go too?D: My block, the slang from Subtle never goes away. Subtle was about choice and the absence of choice. We’ve been working on this [Themselves’] record quietly for awhile and all of that is still there. The meaning is that this is human, it’s the overlying metaphor.GWH: But why are you returning to a rap project?D: Rap is where this started. I wouldn’t paint if it weren’t for rap. I wouldn’t write prose if it weren’t for rap. [Jel and I] always come back to something we love. We grew up loving rap, but so many rappers are… we created a reality that never existed. We never realized that so many rappers were fake. That rappers were backup dancers. And it’s like, people used to come up to the merch booths after shows, back when we just started, and would say ‘Hey man, you know I’m an artist too and I really appreciate what you’re doing,’ and we would talk. Now people come up and are like ‘Yo, I’m DJ Franztap, this is my MySpace.’ What the hell does that mean? Do you, do you like what I am doing? Am I supposed to like you now?GWH: Even with that you’re still pursuing rap?D: We’re starting again. I’ve actually been teaching kids in Oakland how to battle and I’m going to go back to it too. I think we’ll do this until we die.

(this following did not actually occur but when I tell the story I will claim otherwise)

Scroobius Pip – Apparently dan le sac said he couldn’t make it to the show because he got “hoofed by a goat as revenge for his role in the Pac killing.” Simultaneously an annoying Strange Famous artist and really fun.

Scroobius Pip

Buck 65 – Started the set with a Devo beat under his song (video below) and then proceeded to rap for forty minutes straight off an iTunes playlist. And apparently he dances.

This photo is not good, but we were far and that dude looking directly at the camera is hysterical.

The Hold Steady – The following collection of letters is to count as one word: OHMYGODTHEYARESOGOODANDFUNANDTHEYHAVEWAILINGGUITARSOLOSANDCRAIGFINNTREATSHISGUITARLIKEANACCESSORYANDINSTEADCHOOSETODRAMATICALLYACTOUTHISSONGS.

Frontman Craig Finn was not actually singing. Sometimes he just yells inaudible phrases in the middle of songs.

FliP – I would absolutely write them off as generic rock if they weren’t Japanese. Plus, her scream is pure.

While this doesn't necessarily fit into 23 words, it is worth noting that the grizzled aging white men in the front row at "Japan Nite" could not get enough of these 19 year old girls and their rock and roll.

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We have returned and I have figured out the correct way to write about South By Southwest, but first there are some things we need to discuss.

1. AT&T’s coverage in Austin is abysmal. I literally cannot get service anywhere.
2. Austin looks like the apocalypse, in a good way. There are just people roaming the streets drinking and looking for music.

NOW. I have realized that there is no way to convey what actually happens here in Web recaps so here’s the new formula. Get into it. For most shows I will include a 23-word-or-less (in honor of Michael Jordan) summary with a link to the band’s Myspace. We will attempt to include a photo of each set and for the ones we have several good photos of we will include a slide show. For the shows we really loved we will have separate posts including interviews and photo sets.

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

Arms – This artist is an acoustic singer songwriter. This artist bores me.

Parenthetical Girls – Be-sweater-vested and unrepentant. Singer Zac Pennington looks at the stage as a loose suggestion. His 50-foot microphone cord allowed every fence and tree in the venue to become a drum.

Photo by Ani Mamourian

The Heavenly States – Myspace tells me they sound like The Boss and The Hold Steady. I heard a droning John Cougar.

Themselves – Highlights: Throwing confetti-filled eggs at the crowd. Eyedea and Abilities coming on stage for a song. Second band bailing on their show and Themselves seamlessly moving into a double set.

All photos by Ani Mamourian & Alex Carusillo

Wallpaper – OMGLOLHAHAHAHA! A sequin jacket and a panda as a drummer!!!!!!! LIKE OF MONTREAL!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAH!!!!!!! FUNNY!!!!

All photos by Ani Mamourian & Alex Carusillo

Au Revoir Simone – Saw them at a pizza place. Categorically awesome. These songs will be great in printer ads in six months. Jams were fresh though.

The Blue Aeroplanes – Couldn’t focus on the mediocre British rock due to the leather Union Jack jacket on the bass player.

SOME SECRET GUEST WHO I LOVED AT BEAUTY BAR – I HAVE NO IDEA BUT I LOVED THEM. IT WAS LIKE THE BLOOD BROTHERS BUT FUN.

All photos by Ani Mamourian & Alex Carusillo

CAN ANYONE IDENTIFY THE ABOVE INDIVIDUAL? SERIOUSLY.

Team Robespierre – Sampled Andrew W.K. Does not matter that it sounds like every other “fun dance band!” That is enough to make them totally unique.

Totally Michael – I believe I called this “what Brooklyn must sound like” and “dance trash.” Then I learned that the dude was from Indiana. Redemption.

The Death Set – I hold many things against Australia. They are not one of them. Utter disregard for the stage. The first five minutes included ripping a disco ball from the ceiling and a crowd surf/ceiling walk.

All photos by Ani Mamourian & Alex Carusillo

Emily Wells – Thought she was for NPR listeners who talked about how “eclectic” their taste was. Then she covered Biggie and brought out Buck 65.

All photos by Ani Mamourian & Alex Carusillo

The Geeks – Full article coming. Face shredding good. Here is the text on their flier:

“GEEKS are the only very cool bands in the world.
In February, 2008, the geeks were rebeared newly.
It is worlds best group of 4 men.
Let’s introduce our member.
The guitar sound that seems to be a machine gun,
Base sound such as the heavy tank,
Synthesizer such as the ray gun,
A drum such as the great disaster,
And a voice to carry through heart.
When we had a gig, all the spectators was swooned.

Because of us, a lot of people quitted a school and work and came to start a band in Japan.
You’ll regret that you overlook it!
Our force does not stop!”

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We are finally back.Something I have learned in Austin: Any form of transit (and this includes you Southwest Airlines) that has any history with the Southwest area of this country is terrible (this may not hold true for ferries). The cabs in Austin all have tinted windows (for maximum style obviously) and it prevents any hopeful fare from ascertaining the status of the cab. That is, it results in a lot of cabs beeping at you and then driving away when they are full.

Yoni Wolf (Of Why?) – One of my favorite artists sans his group. Totally rash judgment based on less than five minutes of watching: Dude needed his band.
Themselves – Rapper Doseone could write an album of limericks about zip lock bags and I would still call it the most important cultural document of the past decade. However, after six years he is back doing rap, real rap, and not the abstractions and genre experiments he does in Subtle and under the Doseone moniker. And he’s killing it.

Titus Andronicus -This band is rad. Not only do they play amp-smashing rock and roll but they show a complete disregard for property and their lives. There was a guitar solo FROM A TOWER OF AMPS. THAT IS SO ROCK AND ROLL IT MAKES MY HEART EXPLODE.
30 seconds of The Mae-Shi – Awesome. This should be apparent by now. They are awesome. They put a sheet over the crowd and call it the Mae-sheet. They play with wireless guitars. They hand their instruments to crowd members. They wrote a song about Christian Bale the day after he freaked out. Their album is a concept album about the apocalypse. They are awesome. Oh my god they are so awesome.

The Thermals – They played in what looked like it was once the quarry from the Flinstones. While this was aesthetically the most awesome thing since The Mae-Shi formed, it was a sonic disaster.

Ulrich Schnauss - Gorgeous shoegaze/electronic at a place that arbitrarily decided that Austin’s smoking ban indoors is not welcome. Ani and I were so tired that we actually drank Sparks for its promises of increased energy and not the 7 percent alcohol. Not much to watch but overwhelming sound that holds you and says that everything will be alright.

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Back from the AM shows. I’m not totally sure the best way to cover this thing so I’m throw in briefs of everything I have so far and try to do the same on my twitter and on here through my phone.

After Ani got “death metal tacos” we spent about an hour in line at Maggie Mae’s for our first of many many Mae-Shi shows. (Things I learned at SXSW 1 – Standing in line is unnecessary in the mornings. It offers no benefit to you whatsoever.)

(Who we saw in 25 words or less)

Black Gold – Indie pop, a genre that is categorically stupid. They sound like they want to be in ads. Additionally, they are on Red Bull records. (WHAT?)

LOVVERS – OHMYGODTHISBANDISAWESOME. The lead singer looks like Jason Mewes if he listened to a bunch of smell bands. He consistently harassed photographers. Rampant Post-punk. (UPDATE: They also did a waaves cover. This blows my mind. Who covers that band?)

The Mae-Shi – Awesome. No duh. Played half the set laying on the ground in the middle of the crowd. 8-bit-apocalypse-thrash-power-pop. SO COOL.